The Water of Cleansing
1The Lord said to Moses and Aaron: 2“This is a requirement of the law that the Lord has commanded: Tell the Israelites to bring you a red heifer without defect or blemish and that has never been under a yoke. 3Give it to Eleazar the priest; it is to be taken outside the camp and slaughtered in his presence. 4Then Eleazar the priest is to take some of its blood on his finger and sprinkle it seven times toward the front of the tent of meeting. 5While he watches, the heifer is to be burned—its hide, flesh, blood and intestines. 6The priest is to take some cedar wood, hyssop and scarlet wool and throw them onto the burning heifer. 7After that, the priest must wash his clothes and bathe himself with water. He may then come into the camp, but he will be ceremonially unclean till evening. 8The man who burns it must also wash his clothes and bathe with water, and he too will be unclean till evening.
9“A man who is clean shall gather up the ashes of the heifer and put them in a ceremonially clean place outside the camp. They are to be kept by the Israelite community for use in the water of cleansing; it is for purification from sin. 10The man who gathers up the ashes of the heifer must also wash his clothes, and he too will be unclean till evening. This will be a lasting ordinance both for the Israelites and for the foreigners residing among them.
11“Whoever touches a human corpse will be unclean for seven days. 12They must purify themselves with the water on the third day and on the seventh day; then they will be clean. But if they do not purify themselves on the third and seventh days, they will not be clean. 13If they fail to purify themselves after touching a human corpse, they defile the Lord’s tabernacle. They must be cut off from Israel. Because the water of cleansing has not been sprinkled on them, they are unclean; their uncleanness remains on them.
14“This is the law that applies when a person dies in a tent: Anyone who enters the tent and anyone who is in it will be unclean for seven days, 15and every open container without a lid fastened on it will be unclean.
16“Anyone out in the open who touches someone who has been killed with a sword or someone who has died a natural death, or anyone who touches a human bone or a grave, will be unclean for seven days.
17“For the unclean person, put some ashes from the burned purification offering into a jar and pour fresh water over them. 18Then a man who is ceremonially clean is to take some hyssop, dip it in the water and sprinkle the tent and all the furnishings and the people who were there. He must also sprinkle anyone who has touched a human bone or a grave or anyone who has been killed or anyone who has died a natural death. 19The man who is clean is to sprinkle those who are unclean on the third and seventh days, and on the seventh day he is to purify them. Those who are being cleansed must wash their clothes and bathe with water, and that evening they will be clean. 20But if those who are unclean do not purify themselves, they must be cut off from the community, because they have defiled the sanctuary of the Lord. The water of cleansing has not been sprinkled on them, and they are unclean. 21This is a lasting ordinance for them.
“The man who sprinkles the water of cleansing must also wash his clothes, and anyone who touches the water of cleansing will be unclean till evening. 22Anything that an unclean person touches becomes unclean, and anyone who touches it becomes unclean till evening.”
የመንጻት ሥርዐት ውሃ
1እግዚአብሔር (ያህዌ) ሙሴንና አሮንን እንዲህ አላቸው፤ 2“እግዚአብሔር (ያህዌ) ያዘዘው፣ ሕጉ የሚጠይቀው ሥርዐት ይህ ነው፤ እንከን ወይም ነውር የሌለባትንና ቀንበር ተጭኖባት የማያውቅ አንዲት ቀይ ጊደር እንዲያመጡልህ ለእስራኤላውያን ንገራቸው። 3ለካህኑ ለአልዓዛርም ስጠው፤ ከሰፈሩ አውጥተውም በፊቱ ይረዷት። 4ከዚያም ካህኑ አልዓዛር ጣቱን በደሙ ውስጥ ነክሮ፣ ወደ መገናኛው ድንኳን ፊት አቅጣጫ ሰባት ጊዜ ይርጨው። 5እርሱ እየተመለከተም ጊደሯን ያቃጥሏት፤ ቈዳዋም፣ ሥጋዋም፣ ደሟም፣ ፈርሷም ጭምር ይቃጠል። 6ካህኑ የዝግባ ዕንጨት፣ ሂሶጵና ብሩህ ቀይ ክር ወስዶ ጊደሪቱ በምትቃጠልበት እሳት ውስጥ ይጨምር። 7ከዚህ በኋላ ካህኑ ልብሱን በውሃ ማጠብ፣ ሰውነቱንም መታጠብ አለበት፤ ከዚያም ወደ ሰፈሩ ሊመለስ ይችላል፤ ይሁን እንጂ በሥርዐቱ መሠረት እስከ ማታ ድረስ የረከሰ ይሆናል። 8የሚያቃጥለውም ሰው እንደዚሁ ልብሱን ማጠብ፣ ሰውነቱንም በውሃ መታጠብ አለበት፤ እርሱም ደግሞ እስከ ማታ ድረስ የረከሰ ይሆናል።
9“ንጹሕ የሆነ ሰው የጊደሯን ዐመድ ዐፍሦ ከሰፈሩ ውጭ በመውሰድ በሥርዐቱ መሠረት ንጹሕ በሆነ ስፍራ ያኑረው፤ ይህም ለመንጻቱ ውሃ እንዲውል በእስራኤል ማኅበረ ሰብ የሚጠበቅ ይሆናል፤ ከኀጢአትም ለመንጻት ይጠቅማል። 10የጊደሯን ዐመድ የሚያፈስሰውም ሰው እንደዚሁ ልብሱን ማጠብ አለበት፤ ያም ሰው እስከ ማታ ድረስ የረከሰ ይሆናል፤ ይህም ለእስራኤላውያን እንዲሁም በመካከላቸው ለሚኖሩ መጻተኞች የሚሆን ዘላለማዊ ሥርዐት ነው።
11“የሞተን ሰው በድን የሚነካ ማንኛውም ሰው እስከ ሰባት ቀን የረከሰ ይሆናል። 12በሦስተኛውና በሰባተኛውም ቀን ሁለመናውን በውሃው ያንጻ፤ ንጹሕም ይሆናል። በሦስተኛውና በሰባተኛው ቀን ሁለመናውን ካላነጻ ግን ንጹሕ አይሆንም። 13የሞተን ሰው በድን ነክቶ ራሱን ያላነጻ ማንኛውም ሰው የእግዚአብሔርን (ያህዌ) ማደሪያ ያረክሳል፤ ያም ሰው ከእስራኤል ተለይቶ ይጥፋ። የሚያነጻው ውሃ ስላልተረጨበት ርኩስ ነው፤ ከርኩሰቱም አልተላቀቀም።
14“አንድ ሰው በድንኳን ውስጥ በሚሞትበት ጊዜ የሚፈጸመው ሥርዐት የሚከተለው ነው፤ ወደ ድንኳኑ የሚገባም ሆነ በዚያ ውስጥ ያለ ማንኛውም ሰው እስከ ሰባት ቀን ድረስ የረከሰ ይሆናል፤ 15እንዲሁም ያልተከደነ ማንኛውም ክፍት ዕቃ የረከሰ ይሆናል።
16“ሜዳ ላይ በሰይፍ የተገደለውን ወይም እንዲሁ የሞተውን ወይም ደግሞ ዐፅም ወይም መቃብር የሚነካ ማንኛውም ሰው እስከ ሰባት ቀን ድረስ የረከሰ ይሆናል።
17“ለረከሰውም ሰው፣ ለማንጻት ከተቃጠለው የጊደር ዐመድ ላይ ማሰሮ ውስጥ በማድረግ በላዩ የምንጭ ውሃ ይጨምሩበት። 18ከዚያም በሥርዐቱ መሠረት ንጹሕ የሆነ ሰው ሂሶጵ ወስዶ በውሃው ውስጥ ከነከረው በኋላ ድንኳኑን፣ በውስጡ ያሉትን ዕቃዎች ሁሉ፣ እዚያ የነበሩትንም ሰዎች ሁሉ ይርጫቸው። እንዲሁም የሰው ዐፅም ወይም መቃብር ወይም ደግሞ የተገደለውን ወይም እንዲሁ የሞተውን ሰው የነካው ማንኛውንም ሰው ይርጭ። 19የነጻው ሰው ያልነጻውን ሰው በሦስተኛውና በሰባተኛው ቀን ይርጨው፤ በሰባተኛው ቀን ያንጻው፤ የሚነጻውም ሰው ልብሱን ይጠብ፤ ገላውንም በውሃ ይታጠብ፤ ማምሻውም ላይ የነጻ ይሆናል። 20ይሁን እንጂ አንድ የረከሰ ሰው ራሱን ሳያነጻ ከቀረ የእግዚአብሔርን (ያህዌ) መቅደስ አርክሷልና ከማኅበረ ሰቡ ተለይቶ ይጥፋ፤ የሚያነጻው ውሃ ያልተረጨበት ስለሆነ ርኩስ ነው። 21ይህም ለእነርሱ የዘላለም ሥርዐት ነው።
“የሚያነጻውን ውሃ የሚረጨውም ሰው ልብሱን ይጠብ፤ የሚያነጻውንም ውሃ የሚነካ ማንኛውም ሰው እስከ ማምሻው ድረስ የረከሰ ይሆናል። 22የረከሰ ሰው የሚነካው ማናቸውም ነገር ይረክሳል፤ ይህን የነካ ሰው ደግሞ እስከ ማምሻው ድረስ የረከሰ ይሆናል።”
